This week I have a great intangible balance sheet discussion with Cynthia Lynch, one of my mentors from my time at Georgia Tech! Listen in as we cover her reflections on:
Listen in for more of a great conversation!
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
This week I have a great intangible balance sheet discussion with Cynthia Lynch, one of my mentors from my time at Georgia Tech! Listen in as we cover her reflections on:
Listen in for more of a great conversation!
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
Hello and welcome in again to another episode of Wisdom and Wealth. This is another of our Intangible Balance Sheet Edition series and today I've invited Cynthia Lynch to join the podcast. I'm so excited to hear more about her Intangible Balance Sheet. Cynthia, thank you so much and welcome to the podcast.
Cynthia Lynch:Josh, I'm so delighted to be here and I appreciate you're inviting me to do this.
Josh Klooz:Thank you so much for being willing to share and, cynthia, before we dive in, could you just briefly introduce yourself to our audience?
Cynthia Lynch:I will Thank you, and I know you through Georgia Tech, as we know, where I've spent the last 10 years working with the executive MBA program as executive coach and on leadership and career, and before that I had my own private practice both as a counselor and as a certified coach. My background is in business, so my first, my first role was in, or career was in, risk management and, like most career counselors, we have jumped around a little bit. So at this point I have retired from Georgia Tech, have been had the opportunity to work with some amazing people, and I am going to just have a small practice on my own while I'm kind of semi-retired.
Josh Klooz:Excellent and Cynthia. So, for those that may be newer to the podcast, we call it the Intangible Balance Sheet because I believe that we're all a little bit irrational financially speaking about the experiences of our life, and with good reason. Right, there are certain experiences that we've had. If we were given any amount of money, we wouldn't trade them because they're what has made us us right. And sometimes some of that balance sheet comes to us by way of our great grandparents or maybe even our grandparents. Are there any stories from your grandparent lineage that you look back on as kind of pivotal for who you are today?
Cynthia Lynch:I think so. I think we're all affected by our grandparents. I did not have the pleasure of knowing my father's parents, as my father's father died when he was actually a little boy of five and his mother died when I was a baby, so I didn't get the opportunity to meet them. But there are stories, and I think the stories are really more about his mother. She was well educated, she was a teacher, which was unusual because they lived in South Georgia and she had gone to school and had taught. But during the depression she had three boys to bring up and she did whatever she needed to do, and so it was always just an example of a strong woman. That's what I hear From my mother's side.
Cynthia Lynch:I did know my grandparents and again they were. My grandfather had his own business. He had a big automobile repair where he repaired or where he worked on 18-wheeler. So I got to see that actually a lot growing up, because it was right behind their house on Bankhead Highway in Atlanta. So it was just a message of working hard and doing what you need to do to take care of people.
Josh Klooz:Now, as you think about your parents, what are some of the touchstones of your relationship with your parents? As you look back on that relationship, what comes to mind and what are some of those things that have imprinted themselves even onto your life today?
Cynthia Lynch:Oh, very strong influence. My father never graduated from high school Funny, because his mother had been a teacher. But he left home when he was very young and then just went ahead and went into the Merchant Marine, which he did over his lifetime before he retired. He was a chief engineer on a ship. So he traveled quite a bit. Even though we lived in the Atlanta suburbs he was gone for anywhere from three to six months of the year, which was a big impact.
Cynthia Lynch:But the other thing was the message he always said about education being so important. So he valued education. I think that came from his mother and also from everything he saw around him and I remember as a you know, even a little girl, him saying you know, people can take everything away from you, but they can't take away your education. And he, you know he worked hard to take all the engineering exams and actually scored the highest on the Coast Guard Merchant Marine exam at the time that he took it. So, you know, I was real proud of him. In that way. My mother was with my father, traveling a lot. She was a strong woman and was a good example of just doing what you needed to do to take care of your children and your family.
Josh Klooz:I can only imagine that continuous learning that probably took place for your dad in that environment, because there was probably a never a shortage of things that needed to be learned. You're probably dealing with different staffing needs and trying to cross level, different learning needs and different maintenance needs and things of that nature. So a huge part of his life.
Cynthia Lynch:Oh, it was, and he was. He was adamant about that and he really, at the end of his career, probably the last 10 years or so, he was a chief engineer on the liquefied natural gas tanker that went between Japan and Indonesia and you know that was a very volatile situation and so there was lots of training and he was involved when they were building the ships and kind of shepherding them along. So my dad was a hard worker and you know, valued work very much.
Josh Klooz:Thank you so much for that outline of your grandparents and your parents. Now that we've kind of covered your family lineage, what would you consider to be some of the pivotal events of your life personally, or some of those pegs in life that you look back on and look at as instrumental in pushing you a certain direction?
Cynthia Lynch:Um, that is a good question. I was always quiet and excelled in school academically, but I was a bit shy. When I was, I think, 12 or 13, I started working for the YMCA as a day camp counselor. That evolved into a year round working for them in doing their volunteer work and what we call the Leadership Club. I had some amazing mentors through the YMCA and came out of my shell and was the president of their little club. It gave me the opportunity to come into my own, so to speak, in a place outside of traditional academia, which was a little bit scary for me.
Josh Klooz:Was there a certain person that encouraged you to start stepping out in those leadership directions, or was there an event or what stands out in your memory as the first time when you said, hey, I want to go ahead and do something more within the YMCA?
Cynthia Lynch:I think it was the people that headed up the day camp program, but the directors of the YMCA, one particular, kerry Massey. He was a youth minister at churches but he was just such a charismatic person that he really led our whole youth group and was such a positive influence. When I first went to college I thought I wanted to be a recreation major because I thought I wanted to be a YMCA director. I quickly changed that idea. But the YMCA there were just a number of the directors and adults that were just very influential.
Josh Klooz:As you look back on your career choices, are there certain moments in time that you look back on as pivotal for the decisions that you've made in that particular area?
Cynthia Lynch:Since I have changed career several times. There are a lot, josh, I remember going to school and thinking I would make you in recreation and then I thought, no, this is just not me, this is not who I am. Then I thought, well, maybe journalism, maybe I wanted to be in PR or things like that. Then I finally explored and talked to different professors and settled on business. So my undergraduate is in business.
Cynthia Lynch:I'll never forget calling my dad and thinking he was going to be happy that I was majoring in business. He said well, cynthia, I think math skills are so important with all the computer stuff. I just laughed, thinking that's my dad always looking at the other side of things he's like okay, I thought business would be good. Math is not my skill, it is not my skill set at all, so it would not have been a pleasant experience.
Cynthia Lynch:So from that standpoint, and then after my first career in risk management, I was there about 15 years and I decided that I had always wanted to major in psychology, but that was never encouraged because school was about getting a job, according to my parents. So I went back in my mid-30s when I was in working in risk management, after I'd been there for I don't know, 12 or 15 years and just started going to school to get a master's in counseling that I never, ever expected to do anything with. But it drew me in, josh, so strongly that I said I can't do what I'm doing anymore, I have to do this. So that's how I transitioned into counseling. Then, with my business background, it was natural to transition a little bit more into coaching.
Josh Klooz:Got it Now, as you. I want you to zoom out just a little bit, Cynthia, and think of four generations from now. What are some of the pivotal life lessons that you have learned from, gleaned from and benefited from that you think that someone, four generations from now, if they were to listen to this, what would be better off for knowing about?
Cynthia Lynch:Curiosity. I think it's important throughout your life to be curious, not about just learning things, but what are other people doing as far as career? What does it look like? Why do they like what they like? Is that something I might want to do one day? Curiosity about other cultures, about other times, being able to try to understand people. Our world is going through a lot of conflict right now, which is natural, but also trying to understand the other side and what that means to people, so that we can all understand each other. I think that's very important. The other thing is, you know, part of Curiosity is never stop exploring. Look at new topics, look at new people to talk, to. Look at new things to learn. I think that is critical.
Josh Klooz:I really like that. Both are apt resolutions, to be sure. Looking backward and this may be a little bit morbid, but I don't think quite so much I'd like you to think about your eulogy. Some people call it your ethical will, but what are some of the things that you hope are a part of your eulogy, and what do you want others to remember about your life?
Cynthia Lynch:I feel very strongly about that. I don't have children, so my friends are my family and they are incredible. I want people to say that I was a very, very caring, loving friend, that, as far as the world goes, that I had empathy and kindness, and that I helped people and got great joy from helping people succeed and find what makes them happy. That's what I love to do, as you know. In some of the classes that we had workshops and taught, I'll never forget one student said well, cynthia, we're all here to make more money. And they now laughed and said you know, that's not everybody's definition of success, so think about what that means and what the tradeoffs are and what you're giving up. So, as far as the eulogy, I want people to remember me as someone who helped them think of new ideas or helped them. Help them look at their life in different paradigms so that they were happy.
Josh Klooz:Thank you so much for sharing that and, cynthia, I think it goes without saying. You know anyone from you know Georgia Tech would say the exact same thing Thank you so much for the investment in my life personally and in the program. It was a stressful time, to be sure, because you know of all the requirements of the program and work, but it was a good time and so thank you so much for that investment in my life personally. Is there anything that we haven't covered today that you'd still like to cover?
Cynthia Lynch:You know, I would like to say that one of the things that has been important to me, that I learned a long time ago, is you know, we make plans in life and we and I think that's critically important to make thoughtful plans, but they're not written in stone and a lot of times we can't see the entire path. Well, obviously we can't, we think we can and we can have five-year plans and 10-year plans and things, but often we just need to do the next right thing. When I went back to school, I just knew it was the next right thing. I had no idea it would change my life so drastically, but I think just paying attention to what speaks to you is the next right thing.
Josh Klooz:Thank you so much for sharing today with us, cynthia, as always, you know. Please know that my family and I are continuing to wish you and your family continued truth, beauty and goodness in the road ahead. Thank you again for sharing with us and I hope our paths cross again soon, okay.
Cynthia Lynch:Absolutely, Josh. I really do appreciate this. Thank you.